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MediCircle
Techstars '24Houston, US · 8 employees on LinkedIn · 3 known investors
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MediCircle operates a medication donation service that collects unused, unexpired prescription drugs from donors via free shipping kits, recertifies them through a patented process, and redistributes them at no cost to patients who cannot afford their medications. The company partners with health insurers to lower pharmacy spending while reducing pharmaceutical waste in the United States.
Also known as MediCircle Rx
Investors · 3
How we know: Multiball Capital's portfolio page · Not right? Tell us
How we know: the Techstars portfolio · open dataset · Top 3000 Accelerator Startups (no YC) 2026-08 · Not right? Tell us
Company profile
researched Sep 2026MediCircle is a healthtech company that reclaims, recertifies and redispenses unused, unexpired prescription medications, focusing on high-cost oral oncology drugs. Medications are sourced from patients and pharmacies, held in isolation, and recertified by a team of pharmacists before being redispensed through the company's licensed pharmacy to patients facing cost barriers, with the stated aim of lowering costs for both patients and health insurance plans.
The company's model accepts only medications sealed in blister packs and applies quality-assurance steps the founders describe as more rigorous than standard pharmacy practice, with partnerships in development for spectrometry-based impurity testing. A software component records the medication history log by national drug code while redacting patient data for HIPAA compliance. The company frames its opportunity around pharmaceutical waste in oncology, citing an average $10,000 monthly cost for a supply of oral chemotherapy, roughly $3 billion of unused unexpired chemotherapy medication, and 63% of American cancer patients reporting cost as a barrier to care.
Founding story
The idea emerged in 2019 at Brown University when Eliza Sternlicht, then a biomedical engineering student leading the engineering division of the student startup emc^2, surveyed anesthesiologists while researching an automated anesthesia delivery system and found that waste management was the improvement area they most consistently cited. She brought the problem to classmate Jack Schaeffer, an applied math and economics concentrator, and the two built a collect-certify-redistribute business model. Sternlicht focused on the medical side and Schaeffer on business and finance; they credit Brown faculty and the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship with early support.
Business model
MediCircle collects unused, unexpired prescription medications — with an emphasis on high-cost oral chemotherapy — recertifies them through a pharmacist-led quality assurance process, and redispenses them through its licensed pharmacy to patients who cannot afford them. Pharmacies are described as a donation source because handing returned medication to MediCircle reduces their disposal costs and offers tax credits. The company positions the resulting savings toward patients and health insurance plans that carry the cost of expensive prescription drugs.
The company presents its value as savings for patients and health insurance plans on expensive prescription drugs, dispensed through its licensed pharmacy; one listing classifies the organization as non-profit with consumers as its customers and medication donation as its main product.
Traction
The company won the 2021 Brown Venture Prize and used the winnings to start a pilot program on August 1, 2021 distributing recertified medications to charitable clinics. It is listed as operating with seven employees in Houston and is described as having matched patients with needed medications through a growing base of donors and beneficiaries.
Latest developments
As of mid-2026 the company is listed as operating, with seven employees at its Houston location and active hiring.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
MediCircle is positioned among Houston healthtech startups and is grouped with organizations working on medication access and affordability such as Medicines360, US WorldMeds, Medicines for All Institute and Watsi. It is a small company, listed at seven employees.
MediCircle restricts intake to blister-packed medications and runs donations through isolation and pharmacist recertification, with additional spectrometry-based impurity checks in development, describing its controls as more rigorous than standard pharmacy practice in response to stigma around redispensed drugs. Its founders attribute the feasibility of the model to the standardization of national drug codes over the preceding decade, and the company operates its own licensed pharmacy and medication-history software.
Technology
MediCircle uses a pharmacist-led recertification workflow in which donations are isolated before review, restricted to medications sealed in blister packs, with partnerships in development for spectrometry to test for impurities. Proprietary software compiles a medication history log from the national drug code while redacting patient data to maintain HIPAA compliance, and records the quality-assurance checkpoints performed.
Go-to-market
MediCircle sources medication from patients and from pharmacies handling patient returns, positioning donation as financially attractive to pharmacies through reduced disposal costs and tax credits. Recertified medications are returned to pharmacies for dispensing to financially burdened patients; in the initial pilot they were redistributed to charitable clinics. The company also frames savings for health insurance plans on high-cost prescription drugs.
Patients facing cost barriers to prescription medication, particularly cancer patients prescribed oral chemotherapy, as well as health insurance plans seeking lower drug spending; charitable clinics served as the distribution channel in the initial pilot.
Geography
The company is listed with a Houston, Texas base and is included among Houston healthtech startups. Early-stage operations processed chemotherapeutics at facilities in New Jersey. The founders noted that medication redistribution was legal in 39 U.S. states at the time, with legislation pending in the remainder.
History
The venture originated in 2019 from a data-collection project at Brown University, where Eliza Sternlicht led the biomedical engineering division of the campus engineering startup emc^2 (Engineering Medical Care Change), funded by the Rothberg Catalyzer. Surveys of anesthesiologists pointed to waste management as the leading problem area, and further investigation indicated a quarter of medications dispensed to patients end up in incineration facilities. After initially targeting long-term care facilities, the founders refocused on oral chemotherapy because of its high per-unit value and high waste rate. The team won the 2021 Brown Venture Prize and used the winnings to launch a pilot program on August 1, 2021, redistributing medications to charitable clinics. Early operations routed chemotherapeutics to MediCircle facilities in New Jersey; the company is subsequently listed with a Houston base.
Compiled by commissioned research from 4 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Related companies · 2
Companies working in the same space as MediCircle.
Timeline · 2
launches, deals, and filingsMediCircle planned to begin a pilot program on August 1, 2021, funded by its venture prize winnings, to validate and refine its recertification technology and model; medications in the pilot were to be redistributed to charitable clinics.
Co-founders Eliza Sternlicht and Jack Schaeffer took top honors at the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship's Brown Venture Prize competition for their model for redistributing unused pharmaceuticals.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 4
primary sources listed
- Top Houston, TX Healthtech Startups 2026 | Built Inbuiltin.com · web
4 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does MediCircle do?
- MediCircle reclaims, recertifies and redispenses unused prescription drugs — chiefly oral chemotherapy — through its licensed pharmacy.
- Who are MediCircle's investors?
- MediCircle's investors include Multiball Capital, Open Venture Capital, Techstars.
- Where is MediCircle headquartered?
- MediCircle is headquartered in Houston, US.